A Notary, or Notary Public, can authenticate or witness most documents. A Notary can also arrange legalisation or obtain Apostilles, if needed. You will often require the services of a Notary Public when you have documents which are needed to be used abroad. The Notary's signature and seal will verify to the authorities in that country that any relevant checks have been carried out and that the document has been properly signed.Many countries also require notarised documents to be legalised. Legalisation is a double check to make sure that the notaries' signature is genuine and recognised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Documents may also be checked by foreign embassies to make sure that the Notary's signature matches the one on their records. The requirement for this will depend on the foreign country involved. Once the authentiWest the signature is confirmed a certificate is attached, called an "Apostille".